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Dude At Bachelor Party Swims Across Hoover Dam And Somehow Survives

Photo: JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images

Well that’s one bachelor party no one is going to forget anytime soon.

Let’s all talk about Welsh man Aaron Hughes. Hughes was hanging out in Las Vegas for a bachelor party when he decided that it would be a bright idea to go for a nice swim. Oh no, not in a pool or a beach, but a swim across the Colorado River during a visit to the Hoover Dam. And yeah, Hughes somehow didn’t die.

It all kicked off when Hughes realized just how freaking hot the temperature was.

“We got there and it was absolutely roasting,” Hughes told the BBC. “I thought to myself ‘I’m going in for a dip.’”

So what did Hughes do? Well he hopped in on the Arizona side of the dam, which borders Nevada and provides power to Las Vegas.

“I literally just turned to the lads, said ‘I’m off’ and they were all cheering me on and I swam across,” Hughes added. “It’s a hell of a sight to see the dam from underneath.”

It took Hughes about 30 minutes to swim from Arizona to Nevada and back. And he did all this while wearing his sneakers.

So how’d this adventurer survive what’s killed hundreds of people through the years? Nine of the dam’s 10 turbines were off when Hughes swam across last month, the Guardian reports.

Regardless, he could still feel gravity pulling him toward the dam.

“The water was pulling me in towards the dam — it could have actually swept me away,” Hughes told the Daily Post. “Because I went close to the dam first and I could feel it sucking me in, I thought ‘I’ve got to get out of here quick.’”

Police were waiting for Hughes when he made his valiant return to the Arizona shores.

“The police officer shouted to me ‘Oi! Boy! Get your a– up here!’” he recounted to the newspaper. “I was handcuffed and taken back to their office at the dam,” he said. “They were like ‘nobody has ever done this before.’ So in the end I just got a fine.”

His violation ticket cited Hughes for “jumping, diving, swimming from dams, spillways, or other structures.”

So Hughes only got slapped with $330 fine and a hell of a story to tell. And oh, the Guinness Book of World Records reached out, but needed a supervisor to see him do it. And swimming across the Hoover Dam is something that even Hughes admits he won’t be doing again anytime soon.